The Sun. — London, England, 1864-08-19 00:00:00

..'-~, Lord Stanley on Agriculture. Lord STANLEY, M.P., • presided at the annual dine er of the Ormskirk and Southport Agriculture Sod( tty on Wednesday. In proposing the toast of the a vening, he spoke as follows :—Gentlemen, I am afrah l I shall have to try your patience once more. (Apple ease.) If we had a toastmaster here he would tell you to fill your glasses bumpers, because I am now going to call upon you to drink what on these occasions is called the toast of the evening, " Pros perity to the Ormskirk and Southport Agricultural Society"—(applause)—but in doing that it is my duty first to lay before you as briefly as I can the position and the prospects of the society whose an niversary we are now keeping. (Hear, hear.) We are not a very ancient society—all the better for us, I say, because we are clear of antiquated rules and. unsuitable customs. (Hear, hear.) We are not an old society, but these are the days when men live fast, and when one year does the work of half aedezen. (Laughter.) We have seen within one ge neration on this very spot a village grow upinto a town of 20,000 people ; and we need not, there fore, be ashamed of owning that our society is a little younger than Southport—being only eight years old. (Laughter.) Nor can we claim to be at present a very numerous body. We have upon our list as paying 103 and upwards 2so members, but there have been fluctuations. Two or three years ago the number was rather larger than it is now, but I lay no stress upon that, b ecause I con sider we are still growing, and that we have not at all reached what may be considered as our perma nent position. (Hear, hear,) But in a society of this kind the number of enr o ll e d mem b ers i s no test whatever of tho amount of the work which you h av e done, or Which you are doing. There are very many persons who don't care to subscribe, but who, nevertheless, com e as r egu l ar l y as any subscribers to oar yearly meetings, and who pa y their shilling upon the ground, and who go aev'a.Y , haring carried off' whatever they could learn there in the way of agricultural experience. Now, those attendants, though they might not show on our lists, yet not only do some good to themselves, but very materially assist in the aggregate of our finances. I don't mean by that that I should not be very glad for one to see the subscriptions to this society increased. I thinktheyought to be increased end I think they will be increased; at the same time I can make large allowances for men who are not very willing to part with money that has been hardly earned by their own labour, or by labour which they had honestly paid for. It is one thing to be free with your cash when you have made God knows how much by speculation, at the riak of total ruin, and it is another thing to part with that which has been honestly and hardly earned. (Hear.) But what I do say is this, thatthe influence and useful ness of a society of thia kind is not in any degree to be measured by the number of its annual subscrip tions. I think we have a much better test in the attendance at the show yard, and in that respect it shows a very marked improvement. The amount taken at the doors lest year, I am told, was £ll7. To be sure, it was wet, but that is not a very un usual thing in Lancashire. (Laughter.) The amount this year I believe has not been accurately made up, but it this day considerably exceeds £209, and that I hope is a ;fair measure of the progress we are making. (Applause.) On the whole, if we look back at the past, although we may not be able to point to any very brilliant or extraordinary achievements, still we may fairly say that we have done and are doing our work in a steady and unostentatious way. (Hear, hear.) There is such a thing as making the pace too geed to last, and spending all one's energies at the outset. Well, I hope we have not done that. (Hear, hear.) Plants which are the fastest of growth are the most rapid also to decay. That has not been cur case, and I think W 3 nave taken root in. the soil; and although wa eapeot to be blown about and buffeted, our association will grow up into a eately tree; Having discussed these financial details, let me say one word as to the value of local associations of this kind. There are some people who think it would be better if there were only one or two great agricultural associations in a county, and if all these smaller gatherings were done away with. I believe they are entirely mistaken. I don't lock upon it that we take away one subscription or one visitor from the Liverpool and Manchester or from the North Lan cashire agricultural societies. (Hear.) There are many gentlemen who attend here in their own neighbourhood, among their own friends, where they can recognise every other face they see, who would never think of tAkieg the trouble of going to one of the inland towns among s!rangers halfway from here to Yorkshire. (Hear.) No, there are some people who say, " I can't cffird to subscribe to both the county and the ;oeal eociety, and I prefer the local." That is tree; but then the larger asso- elation may set this against it—there are many peraous who acquire a taste for tl.ese meetings, and an inclination to compete at them, who would never have acquired thrt taste bad not the opportunity been brought to their doors. (Hear, hear.) There is another point. We are a little out of the way hcm. The greater societies very properly and natu rally look to their balance-sheet, and, as that de pends very much upon the number of admissions to the show-yard, they arc always anxious to hold their meetings in the most central towns, where a large number of persons can be brought together. That is quite right for them to do ; but I am afraid if we had to rely upon them exclusively, we in Southport and in Ormekirk might find ourselves, to use en American phrase, "left out in the cold." (Laughter, and hear, hear.) Well, I say, therefore, let U 3 live and let live. (Hear.) There is ample room for our society; ample room for other associa tions of the same kind, and I hope that we may con tinue to flourish by the side, and, if they so please it, under the shade of our bigger neighbours. (Hear.) They won'tohnrt us, and I ,dou't" believe we shall hurt them. (Applaase.) And now will you let me say a few words upon a question deeply interesting to us all, and which on these occasions we can't en tirely avoid —namely, what are the prospects of agriculturists in these districts, what has been done, and what is doing here ? (Hear, hear.) I have al ways said, as I say now, recognising as I do the immer.se improvement in the last 25 years, that Lancashire farming is still not, upon an average, what it ought to be. and not what it will be. (Hear.) Partly this is due, I think, to the enormous increase of trades and manufactures in these districts, draw ing off capital and energy in other directions; partly it is due, not to poverty, but to the over wealth of landlords, who draw many of them from coal and building land so large a portion of their rants that to them agr:caltural operations are a secondary matter; and, again, partly it is due to the unfavour able opinion--a prejudice I think—as to the climate and soil of this county, which possibly prevents farmers from coming here from other districts• (Hear.) No doubt we have a damper soil and colthr climate than in the south ; no doubt the sea wind does us no good ; no doubt most of our land requires a deeper and costlier drainage for making it really valuable; but, on the other side we have great ad,. We have an 'vantages to set aga i nst t hi s. (H ear .) almost entire freedom from such droughts as at this - moment are causing the great anxiety end alarm over the south of England. (Hear, hear.) We have mere capital at oar doors tean is possessed by any county excepting the metropolitan county of Vida (11 "°x; we have a greater quantity of machinery ; We caq get better machi ner y, an d we cm get !d men to manige it ; 'Mid we cin, too, get ii as important—cheap coal to work with. 1113 '?*) The RAI; expanses of this connzy are _:gularly favourable for the operations of the steam P l oug h; and, what is perhaps more important than a !!, ava have in Liver- 200 1 and the _ aajacent district - -..--ahrely insatiable, especially for There is one thing more. wen, who are now a gaud deal shall settle among themselves C2.::n; the sewage of towns really h i i ,k that will come before long— a position to take buck from 33 wa send to them. (Applause.) k that WO want here, an d that We Can supply ? is the first pace think we want Wilat (APP•' t t 3 u a in at 883 on ate some plan for 111 ,1 useful—and I do tr we shall then be 1: the toms as much Weil, then, what a more thorough convlotion, d tenants, that esp2cittil.7 among land lords an farm i ng, in order to be r ffin; o ' ectiy, requires b9+ C..pital end C 117,... Wh training. (Hear.) Ido not look forward, as some people do, to see small holdings extinguished, and to see the whole country divided into enormous farms and many hundred acres. I shall I , c sorry to see that day upon social grounds, and I do not be lieve it will be economically necessary. (Applause.) Now, as a general rule, the holdings in this coun try are smaller than they ought to be ; but I be lieve—and I am speaking upon the judgment of high agricultural authority—l say I believe that farms of moderate size, from 100 to 200 acres, may be worked with all the appliances of modern skill and science, given only two conditions—that there shall be the requisite training in the farmer, and that he shall be able to combine with his neigh.. hours to obtain those costly improvements which are necessary for modern farming, and which on his own private account he could not purchase. (Hear.) But we want something more. I have said it before, and 1 say it again, although I am afraid it is an old story.--I think that every good tenant, who is ex pected to stay permanently on the farm he holds, is entitled to ask for a lease or for the offer of a lease. (Applause.) One feels that there is something rather pleasing in the idea of that relation which exists be tween tenants-atewilt and a landlord, in which they are bound, not exactly by law, but by a sort of ho nourable understanding that exists between them. (Hear.) I have nothing to say against that, and where perfect reliance can be placed upon that understanding I don't doubt it is sufficient. But I do say this—and in what I am speaking I am rather in my own mind addressing landlords than tenants —I say that if a tenant is to be expected to lay out capital on his farm, it implies no distrust of the landlord, it is simply an ordinary and a proper business precaution, that he should insist upon having a lease. I may say that upon the estate of which I know most—upon the estate of Lord Derby —no good tenant has been, or will be, refused a lease except under some peculiar circumstances where the arrangements made are only temporary, and where some change in those arrangements is contemplated. (Hear.) Now, there is another matter which I, if I am not tiring your patience, should like to mention. It is quite right that the landlord, whose interest in the soil is permanent, should secure himself against ill-usage or exhala tion of the land by one whose interest may be only temporary. There can be nothing said against that —(hear, hear)—but that may in general be done by a few simple provisions, and I don't hesitate to say that leases, as they are framed over the' greater part of the country, are in many—perhaps in most— cases coupled with conditions which are unneces sarily complicated and unnecessarily restricted. (Hear, hear.) But then the answer is plain. If you don't want to enforce them, what is the use of having them ? I believe that these two things— the one making the giving of leases the general rule, the other having leases drawn more simply than, as a rule, they are at present —I believe that those two matters would go very far to settle that question of land ownership of which we have heard something of late. (Hear.) And perhaps you will allow me to say a word about that matter. (Hear, hear.) I promise you, as I am bound to do, to keep wholly clear of its political bearing, and to consider it wholly as a social question. We have heard great alarm expressed of late lest the soil of England should be swallowed up by a certain number of great proprietors. We have been told that large estates are everywhere increasing. that small properties are everywhere dying out, and that therefore the balk of the population is being separated from the soil. Now, I cannot speak for other parts of the country, but in these districts I will venture to say that, although there has been a very great amount of transfer, it will probably be found that those transfers have been, in by far the majority of cases, net in favour of the old possessors of the neighbouring property, but rather in favour of a new class of proprietors, who have made their money in towns. (Hear.) No doubt there are cases where estates have grown by economy and good management, as there are other cases where estates have been diminished by waste ; but, take it upon the whole, the real change that is taking place is this—that the old small freeholder, burdened with debt and mortgage up to the ears, is being bought off, and his place is being taken by those who have acquired wealth in commerce or in manufactures. (Hear.) Now, I can't say that, as to that process, I see anything which ought to be objected to. In England the possession (I mean the ownership) of laud is a luxury; and those therefore who are making their 10 per cent. securely in business will be glad to pay from 40 to 50 years' purchase for landed pro perty, receiving, that is, from 2 to 21 per cent. on their capital, and thus be sacrificing, so far as that amount goes, from three-fourths to four-fifths of what they are makirg. That is no uncommon case, that is, I conceive, the result of our national charac ter. (Hear.) The noble lord proceeded to observe that when a Frenchman had made a fortune his de sire was to take a fine house in a fashionable street in P4ri3, while an Englishman, in a similar case, would buy an estate, and try to bring up his son as a country gentleman, and that he thought the latter the better taste of the two; but it followed from the very exiBtence of that taste that land could not _ ba remunerative as an investment. Consequently land was a bad bargain to buy, but it was a good one to sell. A poor man would thus sell a small estate, which was heavily mortgaged, probably thinking, and thinking rightly, that he would do better by becotaing a tenant on the land, sad by in vesting the money he thus obtained in the purchase of stock, and in making other improvements, than by retaining a nominal ownership of the land with out having the capital or the credit to make that really available in a financial point of view, And thus it was in this country that the number of small freeholds was gradually diminishing—but dimi nishing not, so far as his observation went, in favour of a few colossal properties, but rather of moderate sized estates, purchased by capitalists who had acquired wealth elsewhere. (Hear.) He believed that if this state of things in England were investigated, county by county and parish by parish, that would he found to be a true description. (Hear) That was not a state of things that they need re gret. Let them try to give the farmers a more in dependent possession, and let them enoourlge such excellent societies as that. Ho advocstsd the plan of giving to labouring men at a moderate rent free- hold cottages (and railroads fleck(' to the facility for d3icg so), and remarked that the soil of England was not split up into estates of which it would take 100 to make a good• sized field. His lordship con cluded by observing that, whether they had agreed with him in what ha had stated or not, he thought they would be of his opinion that it was better for him to discuss such matters as those to which he had alluded than paying them mere compliments. As to the show of that day, so far as his observation went, it had far outdone any of its predecessors ; and though there were not so many implements displayed as might be desired, the show of horses was excellent, and of cattle generally very poor, while the display of fruit was entitled to high praise. lie then gave the toast of the evening, which was received with great applause. EW ACT ON METROPOLITAN TRAFFIC,—One of the last public acts of the late session was for the 'setter regulation of the traffic on Westminster-bridge, and for the prevention of obstructions thereon. The regu lation of the City traffic will lead to great improvements in the metropolitan traffic, and thereby prevent numerous ac cideats. The Commissioners of her Majesty's Works are now empowered to make bye , lews, rules, and orders for regulating the traffic on Westminster-bridge and its ap proaches, and tor a breach thereof the cffender is to be liable to a penalty of 40s, to be recovered underthe Police Act. The bye-laws, &c., are not to come into force until 14 days after the publication of the same in the London Garotte and in the daily newspapers. M. Eugene• Godard and M. Gabriel Yon, who went up on Monday evening in the balloon from the Quai d'Orsay, carte down at No in the morning at Redon (I1le• et - Vilaine), in sight of the Atlantic. It appears that they accomplished 120 leagues in a little under seven hours. [ADVERTISEMENT.] —Holloway's Pills.—The Grand Re quisites,—Nobody will deny the assertion that for man's comfort and happinesA pure blood and a sound stomach rank among his first requirements. Both may be safely and inexpensively secured by these admirable pills, which act gently on the weakest frames, and cause no violent shock to the most sensitive system. Holloway's Pills have proved themselves competent to deal constitutionally with those infirmities which descend from parent to offspring, Which often mar the b r i g h test prospects and throw a con• st gloom over youth. These pills purity both the solids and the fluids of the bod y, and by that salutary pro- S 3 rouse every organ t o perform naturally its proper r ue tion--every nerve its proper duty. TLIE, SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 19, 1864. CENTRAL CRIMINAL COI7RT.--Aug. 18. (Before Mr Justice Byles.) Edward Pope, 22, a well-dressed young man, whose ap pearance indicated that he was of unsound mind, was charged with feloniously and maliciously sending a letter to William Chapman Bexley, threatening to kill him, and also to kill Sir G. Grey. When the prisoner was called upon to plead he replied, " I wrote that letter." Mr Gifford, who with Mr Begley was instructed to prose cute, said that he did not propose to go into the specific charge against the prisoner, but should ask the jury, upon the evidence he should lay before them, whether he was in a condition of mind to plead to the indictment. Dr Gibson, the surgeon of Newgate, was then sworn, and he stated that he had seen the prisoner every day since he had been in Newgate, which was the 22d of July, and he was of opinion that he was decidedly of unsound mind and that he was incompetent to understand what was going on, or the nature of the evidence that would be produced against him. Dr Bexley, one of the physicians of Hanwell Lunatic Asylum, gave similar evidence to that of Dr Gibson. He said that he had seen the prisoner in Newgate, and had had full opportunity of arriving at this conclusion. In answer to questions put by the learned judge, Dr Bexley said that the prisoner was under his care at Hanwell from July, 1863, to May, 1.'364, when he was dis charged, cured. While he was under his charge he con sidered him a dangerous lunatic. He was under nervous delusions, one of which was that he wan the real Prince of Wales. The witness added that the letter that was the subject of the indictment was addressed to himself. The learned judge then briefly explained to the jury the nature of the inquiry, and they at once returned a verdict that the prisoner was of unsound mind and unfit to plead. His lordship then gave directions that the prisoner should be detained during her Majesty's pleasure. The prisoner, who, during the proceedings, had gazed wildly round the court, and who appeared quite unconscious of what was going on, was then removed from the bar. Mary Blake, 30, a miserable looking creature, was charged with the manslaughter of her child, Sarah Blake. Mr Bexley prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by Mr Cooper. This was a case of a very distressing character, there being a second indictment against her for causing the death of another of her children, by, as was alleged, gross inhu manity and neglect. It appeared that the prisoner was a married woman, but her husband was oonvioted of some offence at the .21erkenwell Sessions in April last, and sen tenced to penal servitude, and the prisoner had since taken up with another man. She went into St. James's work house, Clerkenwell, on the 26th of April, being at the time in the family way, and she was delivered of the child in question about a fortnight afterwards, she having at this time five other children of various ages, the eldest being 12 years, all dependent upon her, in consequence of the posi tion of her husband. She discharged herself from the workhouse on the 20th of May, taking with her the whole of her children, the evidence being that she herself was in good health, and with a full breast of milk at this time, and that the lytby, whose death was the subject of the inquiry, and the other children were also healthy. It seemed that she then went to several miserable lodgings in St. Luke's, and at length, on the 22d of June, took up her abode with her six children in a room in Peartree-court, at which place the neglect was said to have occurred which resulted in the death of the child. According to the evidence the prisoner left the unhappy children almost entirely alone for three days and nights, and when the persons living in the house, who were attracted by the cries of the children, went into the room they di-covered them in the :nest wretched condi tion, and there was nothing in the room but some bread and water; the wretched infant had a piece of dirty rag in its mouth, in which was wrapped up a small quantity of sugar. The whole family were removed to the workhouse, where every attention was paid them, but two of them died shortly afterwards, and under these circumstances the present charge was preferred against the prisoner, it being alleged that it was owing to her having left the deceased child and passed the night with her paramour that its death was oocasioned. In the course of the case it was stated that during the period the prisoner was in the workhouse she behaved very kindly to her infant, and appeared very fond of it. Mr Harris, the medical officer of the parish, who made a post mortem examination of the deceased, stated that in his opinion d-ath was occasioned by want of proper nourishment, but at the same time said that the in fent was suffering from mesentric disease, and that distress and misery were very likely to have effected the prisoner's supply of milk, and have rendered her unable to nourish the infant. Mr Cooper made a very feeling appeal to the jury on be half of the prisoner, and he argued that the unhappy event was more to be attributed to the state of misery and desti tution in which the prisoner was placed than to any cul pable neglect on her part. Ths learned judge having summed up, the jury, after a short deliberation, found the prisoner guilty, but strongly recommended her to mercy on account of the painful cir cumstances in which she was placed. The prisoner was sentenced t) nine months' hard labour, his lordship observing that the sentence would have been much severer but for the recommendation of the jury. Vincent Marone, 29, an Italian, was charged with at. tempting to murder John Smith. Mr Besley prosecuted; Mr Best was counsel for the defence. It appeared that the prisoner and the prosecutor were both seamen on board a vessel called the Danube, which at the time the occurrence took p!ace was lying in the St. Katherine's dock. It seemed that a quarrel ha I taken place between the prisoner and the prosecutor, and the former got hold of a carving knife and made a rush at the prosecutor with the knife. It happened, however, fortu nately, that Me Fowler, a custom-house officer, who was on board in his public capacity, saw what was going on and he tripped the prisoner up and got the knife away from him, and the learned judge complimented this gentleman very much for his conduct. The prosecutor, it appeared, had gone to sea, and there was, therefore, no evidence as to the origin of the quarrel, or under what circumstances the prisoner had been induced to act in the manner described. The jury, six of whom were foreigners, under these cir cumstances returned a verdict of not guilty. Tho prisoner was then charged upon a second indictment with a common assault upon the same prosecutor, and of this offence he was convicted, and sentenced to twelve months' hard labour. William Leach, 48, was charged with feloniously shoot ing at Ann Leach, with intent to murder her, In other counts the intent of the prisoner was laid to be to do the prosecutrix grievous bodily harm. Mr W. Williams prosecuted. The prisoner was defended by Mr Sharp. The prosecutrix, who gave her evidence with very great reluctance, it appeared was the wife of the prisoner, and they had been married for eighteen years. The prisoner, it seemed, had for some time been a teetotaller, but on the day in question, the 30th of July, he appeared to have drank petty freely of brandy, and he went home about three o'clock in a very excited state, and shortly afterwards went to bed. While the prisoner was supposed to be asleep one of his eons seemed to have called out, " Where is the pistol 2" and the moment he did so the prisoner jumped out of bed, went to a drawer and took out a pistol, aimed it at his wife and discharged it. The weapon appeared to have been loaded with shot, some of which lodged in the wall of the room, but the prosecutrix did not receive any injury, and the prisoner at first seemed to have endeavoured to explain his conduct by saying that what he had done was only is a lark. When the police were called upon to take him into custody the prisoner appeared to have been very violent, and he threatened to blow out the brains of anyone who touched him, and when he was before the magistrate he said that he had been aggravated to do what he had done in consequence of his wife having pawned his clothes, and his having discovered a large quantity of duplicates re lating to property which she had made away with, and upon being told he was charged with shooting at his wife, he 're plied, " Never mind ; I dare say she won't appear against me to prosecute me." It also appeared the prisoner had said to one of the witnesses that when he came out he meant to have his wife's life. The jury, after a short consultation, found the prisoner guilty, upon the second count, of shooting at his wife with intent to do her grievous bodily harm. Mr Justice Byles said that if the prisoner had been con victed upon the first count of the indictment, he should have felt it his duty to sentence him to penal servitude for life, and he would have been in the condition of a slave for the remainder of his days. The offence of which the jury had convicted him was, however, one of a very serious character, and the sentence he must pass upon him was that he be kept in penal servitude for ten years. (Before Thomas Chambers, Esq,, Q,C., Common Sergeant.) Rosa 111.‘Dermott, 21, spinster, a morose-li oking woman, of the class designated unfortunate, was indicted far felo niously wounding Mary Ann Hays, with intent to do her grievous bodily harm. The prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to seven years' penal servitude. John Verender, a middle-aged man of decent appearance, was indicted for having unlaw,ully, wickedly, and mali ciously published a scandalous libel of and concerning one Henry Nathan. Mr Metcalfe conducted the prosecution ; and Mr Harry Palmer appeared on behalf of the defendant. Mr Metcalfe, in opening- the case to the jury, stated that the prosecutor was of the Jewish persuasion, carrying on, in partnership with his sons, an extensive business as drapers, in Whitechapel, and defendant carried on the busi ness of a chandler's shop next door but one to the prosecu tor's warehouses in Great Garden-street, Whitechapel. The defendant had been summoned before the magistrates of the police -court of the district for obstructing the foot pavement by the exposure of his goods, and the defendant seemed to imagine that these summonses had been issued at the instance of the prosecutor, whereas they had, in F nt been issued o n t h e application of the police. On a fr 4 i - d su mmons for the same o ff ence, the defendant re . deco i the small penalty of four or five shilling s used to pay eame out of prison than inflicted upon him, and, in s t ea d of paying, went to p the defendant p l acarded the fro.- r lent number o f d ays, He no sooner Jon for an equiva• with the libel c omplained e _a of hi s h ouse and prem i ses calf) would now call t;- .4, and to which he (Mr Met httention of the jury. The first ran in these terms, " Notice I Owing to the envy and malice of the Jew draper, who bribed the Peelers to interfere and false swear, I beg to announce to the public that I shall carry on my business as usual." The next placard was to this effect--" Snake, the inspector, the fat on his bones being rank . poison, did say at the police court that it was the Jew draper that employed and bribed him to false swear for the sake of the women that come to his father's tally shop, as they wear such large hoops that they cannot get by my premises." The third libel was—" Where is the low-bred, ignorant Jews ? No, Bobby, Ido not want to have anything to do with the cat- throat Jew, or any of his family. In defiance of the Jew draper and his Bobby Peeler, my business will be conducted as usual. " He that will a Bobby feed Can in the street do as he pleased. It's known that half a pint of beer Will buy a Bobby anywhere." (Loud laughter.) Though the doggrel and rigmarole might cause a laugh, the placards attracted large mobs of people to the front of the defendant's premises, and occasioned not only a great annoyance but a considerable hindrance to his business. The defendant bad been frequently expostulated and remonstrated with, but he refused to displace the offen sive placards until he had been committed for trial on this charge. The prosecutor of this indictment had no desire bat to protect himself and remain in peace and quietness, and with that view the defendant had been communicated with by Mr Mitchell for the prosecution, but without effect, and hence the prosecutor had been compelled to come to this court for protection and redress. E van now he would accept a plea of guilty on the defendant entering into sureties not to repeat his offensive conduct. The facts thus stated in the opening speech of counsel were fully proved by the prosecutor, Mr Nathan, a venerable gentleman, who proved that he had lived on the spot for the last 40 years, by Mr Mitchell, his solicitor, and by Police sergeant Moriarty, 20 I, who had in vain expostulated with the defendant. Mr Harry Palmer addressed the jury on behalf of the defendant, contending that his client had no malicious motive, but had merely put up the placard by way of joke. lif the prosecutor had sought satisfaction his course ought to have been to bring his action for damages, and not put the machinery of a criminal court into motion, If he had taken the former course the defendant could himself have been examined on oath, but here the law closed his lips. In a civil court the prosecutor might have obtained a farthing damages, and he (Mr Palmer) trusted the jury would deal with the prosecution at the lowest estimate. The jury, atter a short consultation, returned a verdict of guilty. Mr Metcalfe intimated to the court that there were two other similar indictments against the defendant for libelling the two sons of the prosecutor in the last case, but still they were willing to take an apology, with securities that the annoyance should not be repeated. Mr H. Palmer held a conference with his client (the defendant), but he obstinately persisted in not making any concession. The Common Sergeant, in passing sentence, said he could not but regard this as a most serious offence. The defendant stood convicted of a most cowardly assault upon the cha racter of a very respectable man, and to the last moment he has persisted in it. At first conciliatory arrangements were offered to him, and he had been allowed to go at large on bail. This session and the last he had failed to surrender, and at last his appearance to-day has only been secured by the entreatment of his recognisances, and the issue yesterday of a warrant for his apprehension. These slanders were worse than if the defendant had knocked the prosecutor down and personally injured him ; and this slander was cal culated to inflict serious injury to him in the estimation of the prosecutor's friends and neighbours. Under all the circumstances the sentence was that for this offence the de fendant be imprisoned for the space of six months, and that at the expiration of that term he enter into recognisances, himself in £lOO, and two sureties in £5O each, to keep the peace towat ds the prosecutor and all the rest of her Majesty's subjects. SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS, TIMES.—The talent for organisation and for logi cally deduced and clearly defined ideas is the forte, but is also the foible of the French. The doctor will explain to you your complaint with such clearness and minuteness that you experience almost a feel. trig of pleasure at finding that nature has gone wrong in so scientific a manner. The lawyer can. not speak for five minutes without showing that he refers to first principles with a knowledge and a skill unknown to his English compeer. It is, therefore, by no means surprising that the art of war, which engages so large a part of the genius of Conti nental nations, should be brought to a theoretical perfection among our neighbours and those nations whom they influence. Belgium and Switzerland are in some respects more French than France. The ideas which are restrained by the firm hand of political power, or discouraged by the indifference and vanity of Paris, often find their first expression in these two States, which look up to the great nation with awe, and offer it the sincere flattery of imitation. Brussels is the traditional city of hu manitarian congresses ; and Geneva, scarcely less French, and even more free, vibrates to every mood of the master mind. The latter city is about to give the world some new doctrine of the laws of war which we may easily trace to the teachings of a French school of reformers. An " International Congress" —that is, an assembly of gentlemen, in cluding, probably, every body who chooses to come— is sitti' g for the purpose of ameliorating the prac tices of war, and a most amiable aeries of resolutions has been put forth to be the basis of their delibera tions, The delegates of the human race who meet on the shores of Lake Leman have discovered that war is a very inhuman proceeding. When two nations quarrel they send out certain thousands of men dressed in gaily-coloured cloth and armed with deadly weapons, and these people inflict on each other severe wounds, of which some instantly die, end others linger in pain and confinement for weeks and months. There are in use for this cruel purpose large tubs of iron called cannon, and also smaller ones called rifles and pistols, besides sharp instruments for cutting and stabbing which go by many different names. When two bands of the madmen who carry these machines meet together, end use them it is called a battle, and the conse quences always is that several hundreds or thou sands of the nnmber are stretched helpless or maimed, gashed or shot through, in certain ilium. trived receptacles called military hospitals. From time immemorial the horrors of these adjuncti to a campaign have been described. The sufferings of wounded men after a battle have pointed the moral against war for generations, and the coldest and most callous generals are reported to have been moved with pity at the sight of their followers lying in fever and misery long after the day of victory had gone by. The dreadful accompaniments of war ap pear to have had such an effect on the leedet s of this Conatess that they now propose to lessen them by regulations of a novel kind. They are sorry to find thAt not only do the armies fire at one another and inflict hurts by lead and steel but that the victors actually advance, capture the wounded who are lying on the field, take possession of the enemy's hospital!, use them for their own purposes, make prisoners of all whom they find in them, and, in short, postpone the consideration of miring their adversaries to that of advancing their own interests and rn.lEing the best of whatever victory they maT have gained. It the Congress adopt the regotations offered to it, it will demand that every ambulance and every military hospital shall ^ be regarded as neutral" and respected by the belligerents ss long as it shall con tain any sick or wounded. Not only this, but " the whole sanitary staff, including doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, attendants, &c., are to be regarded as neutrals." Ad such persons are to be allowed to fulfil their duties so long as their services are neces sary, and " will then be allowed to leave without the sligh'est hindrance or molestation" in order to give their help to other parts of their own army. Fur thermore, soldiers severely wounded are not to be made prisoners, but shall be allowed to return to their homes on the congition that they shall not bear arms during the campaign. They shall receive a free pass, and, " if necessary, means for their jour ney when well enough to leave their place of treat tnent." Toe army in possession, too, titian provide articles for the sick and for the persons in attendance, the cost to ba repaid by the army to which the sick and wounded persons and doctors belong. Such is the scheme for making war truly humane and polite. To wound men in order to send them home ; to support doctors on credit, and when their work is done send them back to doctor oihers of the enemy ; to supply whatever is wanted by the enemy's hospitals, and to keep a book of the expenses with the intention of sending in the bill at the end of the campaign,—these are the measures recommended by the philanthropists of the day for making the killing of humeri beings a more gentle and civilised practice. With the utmost respect for these gentlemen and a full belief that they arc ami able and sincere, we must declare our conviction that little moral good comes from attempts to make arrifi cial rules for the conduct of war, and, as they would hhrese ir, to larrnnise international strife. Humane war is "hot ice and wondrous seething snow," and for men to take the pract.ice of international destruction as inevitable, and give their mir. , 's to the elaboration of expedients for preventing it from being what it must always be, is a perversion of talents and a waste of labour. Undoubted:y great and gifted men have written of the laws of war, and have influenced Christendom so much that certain practices are praised as honourable, and others con thAnned as ferocious and cowardly. But beyond the custom of rot butchering prisoners in cold blood there is hardly one of these rules which has not been continually violated by contending armies, and in the latest hostilities which have cursed the globe the departure from the chivalrous principles of war-making has been most marked. The Americans, both Federals and Confederates, have made war more like the wild Indians who possessed the country before them than men who have in herited all the maxims and practices of Christian Europe. The Federuls began the outrages, and their adversaries seem likely to better the instruc tion. The notion of making elaborate rules for the conduct of war, stipulating for the repayment of what each side edvancee, for the perfect freedom of every one connected with the medical staff of either army, and the sacredness of every building in which there shall be sick and rounded, is the mere pedantry of organisation. Can any one believe that in such a campaign as General Grant has been car rying on in Virginia,where each commander's whole faculties have been concentrated on the weakening and outwitting of his adversary, any such rules of courtesy would b e o b serve d ? W ould the two armies struggling in the depths of Georgia, would the fierce partisans of the Western States, allow any building or set of men to be considered neutral, and to set up an independent authority in territory held by them ? Such artificial regulations would never survive the first shock of real warfare between embittered nations; and it is for such contests that rules of war must be made, if they are made at all. Fighting is likely to be less frequent than in past ages, but sharper and fiercer, and with less of formal chivalry. The laws of the dual*, the spirit of which these Geneveso humanitarians seem in clined to rival, arc not calculated for the earnest purpose of men in the present age, who when they fight will use every effort to destroy their enemy, and fancy they are most humane when they do this most quickly and eactually. If there were no other reason against these proposals, it would be enough that in a campaign they would be almost certainly nugatory. But they have a positive hurt fulness, since they tend to encourage the notion that war can be made less a scourge of mankind by the adoption of a certain artificial procedure. If wars are to be waged at all, it is for the benefit of the world that they should be as short as possible, The sooner the victorious array disperses and ruins the army it has beaten, the sooner Is the final erbitre4 ment given and the dispute brought to an end. It is better, therefore, to hamper war with as few re gulations as possible, and to give no encouragement to any praenice which would allow the worsted party the means of delaying the necessary conse quences of its defeat. After all, the only safeguard for the wounded or the prisoner is the humanity of the conqueror; to that trust must be given, and we hope and Ldieve that in no recent war has the plain duty of succouring wounded enemies been forgotten. It is better to confide in unenforced humanity than to set up pretended laws Ivhich would be continually and inevitably set aside. POST.—It appears from a statement made by Mr. Lindsay, in addressing his constituents on Nionday, that since the commencement of the A.neriean war the Federal Government have called out two million three hundred and seventy thousand men, in addition to four hundred and fifty thousand militia ' and have contracted liabilities to the amount of eight hundred millions sterling. Aa a matter of fact, it is known that the armies these numbers . - represent, and the vast sum of money that has been expended in bringing them into the &hi, have effected literally nothing. There is not, as Mr. Lindsay says, any appearance even of the Union being restored. It is fair, however, to admit at once that if the war had succeeded, if the South had been subjugated, if the Union had been re stored, and if slavery had been abolished, all eivi liz,Al nations would still have insisted, as they do /307 irisist, and as history will emphatically declare, th:.t the f ill attainment of these objects couid not possibly be held to justify this frightful sacrifice of human life. Great objects do undoubtedly some times cAll for great sacrifices, as, for examp!e, reetntly, in the r , siAtanc.„3 of Itacsian aggression, and in the liberation of Italy; for in both those instances a prinolnle of the utmost importance was involved, and war was necessary to maintain the security and the peace of Europe. But, taking the Federal case in any way in which it can be put most favourably for Mr. Lincoln, there is not the shadow of a defence, not the semblance of an excuse, not a tittle of evidence to extenuate what must be deecribed as a gigantic crime. In no other country in the world would such a war have been tolerated ; under no other form of government would it have been possible. Monarchical England surrendered her American colonies, not, as was proved a little later, because she had not the means of continuing the struggle, but in deference to public opinion, and in compliance with the dictates of reason and huma nity. But Mr. Lindsay has not stated all, nor nearly all the liabilities of the Federal Government; for, in eumming up the account for which Mr. Lincoln is morally answerable, it will be seen that his esti mate, incredibly large as it seems, falls gonsiderably short of what will have to be scheduled; and things are come to such a pass, and misrepresentation has risen to such a height of effrontery, that it is abso lutely necessary—not in the Confederate interest, but in the interests of truth and justice—to wholly tear away the mask which conceals the hideous features of this sanguinary and abominable war. England, as we have said, recognised the indepen dence of the United States on principles which re gulate the policy of Christian nations, and when h was proposed to employ savage tribes against the colonists, the infamous suggestion was instantly de nounced and extinguished in the British Parliament. One of the greatest orators of any age gave his latest breath to save his country from that foul dishonour. But in this war Mr. Lincoln has, in so far as he could, armed the slaves against their masters, and thereby virtually encouraged them to thecommission of unspeakable atrocities. It is not in the barbarous treatment of Polish ladies, hut in the indescribable horrors of the Indian mutiny, that we have to seek a precedent for outrages, which, in mercy to the unhappy victims, are only partially revealed. Sincerely do we hope that these barbarities have been exaggerated, but they are indirectly confirmed by the Federal accounts of the assault on Peters burg, where, we are told, tee Confederates were " maddened," as well they might be, at the sight of the black troops. They are also, to some extent, corroborated by official documents in which Federal officers unblushingly describe how they deal with ladies who are suspected of harbouring Southern sympathies. Wives who, after being rudely inter rogated by a provost marshal, boldly refuse to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government, because they will not disgrace their husbands, are sent to the South as " disloyal woman ;" and General Sherman arrested and transported four hundred factory girls for no other offence than that they were, in their own State, which he had inveded, engaged in manufacturing canvas for the Confederate army. Of course the result is precisely that which was witnessed in Maryland the other day, when the women welcomed and aided the Southern troopers. But what it is essential to have understood is that this parody of Muscovite warfare is deliberately ordered by the Federal Government, and more especially that in arming the slaves Mr Lincoln must have been aware of tneir brutal pro pensities. Moreover, another secession, if not im minent, is contemplated. The North Western States are preparing to follow the example set them by their southern sisters, and Mr Lincoln is not only responsible for the cost of a useless war, but also for having sown broadcast the seeds of disintegra tion. He has irretrievably broken up the Union, and it is difficult to say whether, even in the North, nis Government is more hated or scorned. While his own senators have charged him with usurpation of power and a design to secure his re-election by unfair means, his chief army will in all probability have to reteeat over ground it has encumbered with its dead, and, abandoning an object for which it has poured out its blood in one continuous stream, en deavour to save Washington from the sword and grand of the exasperated Confederates. By sheer force, by coercing the Northern people with bayonets that have proved powerless against the Southern hosts, Mr Lincoln can perhaps carry his re-election, and call again for volunteers. But, put it off as he may, the day of reckoning will come, and if we add to a debt of £800,000,000 the value of all the ships and cargoes that have been destroyed by the Confederate cruisers, and if in the tale of slain and disabled we include the widows and orphans of the war, and those who have suffered worse than either death or bereavement, there will be a bill to pay which, if justice and courage are to be found in the land that has been wasted, cannot be repudiated with impunity. We must, however, say now, as we have said all along, that this coun try is not called to intervene in the only way in which her intervention could, as it appears to us, be made at all availing. The interference Mr Lindsay proposes would hardly, we fear, tend to strengthen the hands of the peace party in the North ; nor c,n we think that they ought to expect foreign support in the discharge of a clearly indicated duty. But we do entirely ogres that every one amongst us who can make his voice heard is bound to protest against the extension of any sympathy to a Government which has written out its doom in the blood of its own subjects, and in that sense we have accepted the invitation Mr Lindsay's speech offered to point to facts which speck for themselves, The Accident on the North London Railway Yesterday afternoon ,Dr. Lanketer, coroner for Central Middlesex, and a jury of eighteen inhabi• tants of St. Pancras, assembled at University Col lege Hospital, for tfit.3 purpose of opening an inquiry as to the death of Witham Dlvis, aged 22, the fire man or stoker of the locomotive engine, which ex■ ploded at the Camden-road Station of the North London Railway, on the morning of Tuesday lust. A number of the officials of the North London Company and scientific gentlemen were present. John Franklin, of Fairfield-road, Bow, said he was half•bro'her of the deceased, and identified the body. Deceased was a fireman on the North London Railway, and worked on engine No. 4, Witness was a driver ou the same line of railway, and had driven the same engine eighteen months, having only left the night previously. There was a double shift on that line of railway, and had not this accident happened he should have resumed his duties es driver of that engine at one p.m. on the day on which the accident happened. Be. sieved the engine was about nine years old. It had been stopped a week together for repairs, and was under repair about a fortnight ago for a new piston. Had reported tubes leaking, but not as to any weakness or defect in the stays of the fire-box, and although they had a book to make entries in, had never made a report about the fire-box. Thomas Pett said he was guard in the employ of the North London Itailway, - and at about 9,36 on Tuesday morning was standing on the down plat form at Camden-road Station. The train to which No. 4 engine was attached was the Chalk Farm train, It had stood at the station about a minute and a half, when witness, who was about 20 yards off, heard a noise like the bursting of a boiler tube. In an instant after heard and saw a rush of steam, and then beard a heavy crash, as if something had fallen over into the street. Ran through the steam, and on looking over the parapet of the railway saw the engine lying below. Then saw the deceased, William Davis, lying in the six foot. He was groaning very much. Witness picked him up and sent for a doctor : he carried him to the platform, and then put him on a board to carry him to the hospital. They put him in a van, as the doctor would not allow him to be put in a cab. Robert Grey said he resided at Clarendon cottages, Bow, and was foreman of the locomotive shop of the North London Railway. The engine No. 4 was about ten years old, and the company had ten engines of the same class and of the same age, There were some other engines older than this. Nu. 1 was several months older. Tnis engine had not been often under repair. Since the accident nad examined the engine, and had found no defects in the structure. The fire-box seemed good and sound, and the stays all s ound. The inner copper fire-box had giv e n way. The top stays were broken,and the iest were blown through the copper. By the Coroner--'Could not say the cause of the gine was t ;ioroughly repatred and accident. I have never seen an accident of .this kind before. This en ttestedhan once two in years two a g o years.; they T a h r e e' not examined m ore There was a small sta r crack at the back of the fireabox, and i was repaired, and a copper patch p ut on it, A l i c i a is there now. The stays were examined two years ago, and were then sound, and so they are now. Mr George Cox, house-surgeon of University College Hospital, proved that the deceased died from concussion of the brain and other injuries. Mr Witliam Adams said he resided at Carlisle terrace, Bow, and was locomotive superintendent of the North London Railway. Was well acquainted with the exploded engine ; was not aware of any defects in her. Had ex /alined the engine since the accident ; one side of the fire-box was torn aw4Y from the back and top side. Could not see any thinning of the metal to account for it. The thick ness of the fire-box plates vary from three -eighths to half en inch. This was originally three-eights, and was worn away about oneesixteenth. By the Jury—There was nothing to show that shortness of water and high pressure caused this occident. If the firebox gave way the water would rush in and cause the accident. The Coroner—Has the Government yet sent down any one to inspect the engine r Witness--N o , but it has been reported. 13 Y t . r•- , Juty—l deny that tee engines the North London Railway do double the amount of work of engines on any other line, . average working is about 16 hours per day for ten years. She has run under 300,000 miles ; 291,508 miles is the actual amount. It is heavy worni for the work ing parts of the engine. Oar wo a heavier than on the North Western or Great Western Railways. Mr Humphrey Lamb, of Violet-street, Devon road, Bromley, said he was foremn of the boiler• makers in the employ of the North London Railway, and knew No. 4 engine. Never heard any ea" plaint about her firebox. Had examined the fire box since the accident, but could not tell the cause of the accident. Such an accident might occur to a new engine. The copper of the firebox was par ticularly good. John Ellis said he was driver of the engine No,. 4, to which the accident happened on Tuesday last. He was slightly scalded. He lett Chalk Farm at 9.32, and on reaching Camden-road was standing; on the foot-plate when the explosion took Plac e ' He bad been a journey before, from Bow to Sew, and had taken in water at Chalk Fairs. About a minute before the explosion took place looked at the pressure gauge, and found it standing at 120, the pressure et which it worked. When the explosion took place witness was blown off beo lotto the platform. Saw no leakage of any kind the occurrence. The guard was blowing h i s whis tle, and witness was in the act of turning o wee steam when the accident happened. There e eight inches of water by the water gauge whe n they started. There would be no danger from wan t of water if it was as low as four or five inches. By the Jury—Had reported the engine Wit' respect to her tubes being out of order, but not as to the firebox. A juror said he should not like to stand on alt engine which had been five years, much less ten years at work, as this engine had been. At this stage of the proceedings the Coroner said he thought it desirable that the jury should rie.r the engine at Bow, and it would be better, 1.0 order to enable the Government to send their inspector, that it should be adjourned till that day fortnight. The inquiry was adjourned accordingly. L i ver pool' Explosion at Vauxhall Foundry, A fearful explosion took place yesterday morning at the extensive works in Vauxhall-road, Liverpool, known as the Vauxhall Foundry. It appears that a portion of the south wing of the foundry is used as a machine shop, and th at for the purpose of driving the lathes, &c., there is a p owerful engine and a boiler of 90 horse power. In order th at there may be no delay in generating steam when the m en ge tv work in the morning, the boiler fires are " banke d" over night, and a moderate pressure of steam always re ad y the first thing in the morning. Yesterday morning, a s 113° the men went to work in the machine shop at six o c lock. Everything appeared to go on well until about Of!, minutes or a quarter past six, when the boiler exploded with a terrific crash, completely demolishing the b uilding in which it was situate, and causing great alarm through" out the works and the immediate neighbourho od. soon as the smoke and steam had cleared, a painful Bond° presented itself. The boiler and machinery were shivereu to atoms, and were scattered over the works in , directions. A number of the men employed lay br uised an d scalded among the debris. Oae man, named M'Evoy, was picked up in a frightful state, and died a erns u in few minutes atterwards, and another man named Jolles Rowe aied in about half an hour after he was admitted to the Northern Hospital. Several other men were also taken. to the hospital, all more or less suffering from scalds „ CO wounds, Six men wore temp o rarily attended to al, the Northern Dispensary, from wh e nce they were removed their own homes. Fortunately, th e i r injuries ar e of such a nature as to prevent any immediate seriou s consequences Y, Five men; however, in addition t o Rowe and voHospital, and a in a very critical condition at the Northern at the time of the despatch of our p arc el two o f them, named Calvert and Baugh, were not exp e ct e d to long survive their injuries, Ihe damage done to the building is Very exten sive, and will incur considerable expense to the proprietors, Messrs. Forrester, and Co„ who give employmen t to about 800 men. A singular fatality seems to hang over this foun dry, as it is only a short time since that one port ion of the works, embracing the modelling and joiners' dep artments, was destroyed by fire, and damage to the extent of X 16,000 sustained. The cause of the 'explosion is at pr esent un known, end those who saw the boiler before the ex p losion occurred assert that all was right—that there was a p roper quantity of water in the boiler, and that there were no in dications whatever to show that there was any fear of al l explosion. The following are the names of the poor fellows now lying dead and wounded at the Northern Hospital Bernard M'Evoy, aged 48, dead—James Rowe, 23, dead George Calvert, 53—Edward Baugh, 19—Michael M'Der mot, 34—Thos. Goulburn, 29—and Edward Sweeney, 4S. (Before Mr Commissioner Kerr.) Richard Wybourgh, 32, labourer, and Catherine Cronin, 32, spinster. were indicted for feloniously assaulting, toge ther with another person, Edward John Sackett, and steal ing from him a gold chain, a pin, and half a sovereign in money. Mr Kemp prosecuted, and Mr Daly &fended Wybourgh. The female prisoner was undefended. The prosecutor in this case is a young man, and on the day in question, the 29th July, he had been to a boat race in the vicinity of Horselydown. After the boat race he went with two friends to different public-houses, and remained drinking with them till 1 o'clock, when he wended his way home alone. While passing along Tooley-street he was accosted by the prisoner Cronin, with whom he got into conversation, and while talking to her the man Wybourgh and another came up, and while the latter threw his arm about his neck the male prisoner robbed him. The jury found the prisoners Guilty, and having been both convicted before, the Commissioner sentenced them— Cronin to fiv,, and Wybourgh to ten years' penal servitude. Henry Paxman, 39, victualler, was indicted for stealing a phaeton, value £2O, the property of William Glover. Mr Platt prosecuted ; Mr M. Williams defended. The learned judge stopped the case, and under his direc tion the jury returned a verdict of acquittal. Dennis Ryan was indicted for feloniously and maliciously causing grievous bodily harm, to his wife, Julia Ryan, Mr Collins prosecuted. The prisoner, who had observed a most stubborn mein since his incarceration, on being called upon to plead re fused to open his mouth either one way or the other. Mr Jonas, governor of Newgate, was called, and stated that the prisoner could speak if he chose, but he had pursued this kind of conduct several times since he had been in New gate. A surgeon was likewise sworn, and he, having pre viously seen the prisoner, etatJd it as his opinion that he was quite sane and capable of the powers of speech. On the question being put to the jury, " Whether the prisoner was mute through the visitation of God, or whether he stood mute of malice ?" The jury replied that they considered ho stood mute of malice. The Commissioner then ordered a plea of not guilty to be entered. The facts of the case were of a very brutal character. The prosecutrix was the wife of the prisoner, and resided at the time of the assault at No. 30, Old Pie-street, Westminster. On the 9th of July, about 9 o'clock in the morning, the lodgers heard a dreadful noise, and the prosecutrix ran into the room, her face coverea with blood. The prisoner rushed in immediately afterwards armed with a ginger beer bottle, with which he struck her several more violent blows on the head. The poor creature was so frightened that she ran under the bed, but the prisoner bteoped down and struck her several farther blows with the chamber, which he broke to pieces, and had not the lodgers interfered there would certainly have been murder committed. The jury found the prisoner guilty of unlawfully wound ing. Sentence deferred. Thomas Beehow, 28, musician, Margaret Broughton, 41, Susan Seymour, 19, spinster, and Henry Dempsey, 23, em bosser, were indicted for a robbery with violence upon John Smith, and stealing from him a watch and the sum of £2l ss. Mr Cooper and Mr Wood prosecuted ; the prisoners were defended by Mr Daly, Mr Montagu Wiliiams, and Mr Thompson. In opening the case to the jury, Mr Cooper said this was a most extraordinary case of robbery, the prosecutor, who was undoubtedly a weak-minded and timid man, having submitted himself like a lamb to be the victim of the pri soners. It appeared that on the 10th of August the prose cutor, who was barman at a public-house in Kennington lane, received a holiday from his employers, and resolving to enjoy himself, and attired in his best, he, put the sum of £2l into his pocket and started in search of pleasure. After sojourning at different places and traversing various portions of the town, he found himself about 5 o'clock in the evening in the vicinity of King-street, Soho. While passing down that street he saw the prisoner standing at one of the doors with a jug cf beer in her hand. She invited him inside, and he accordingly accompanied her into the parlour. In a few minutes Demp sey came in and swore at pt osecutor, saying he was with hi s wife, and declaring he would make him pay for it, While the discussion was going on, the other prison ers came in , and Beehow said that Dempsey ow e d him £2 s s, but if th e prosecutor wou ld pay that sum he would let him go without any further proceedings, ?roe°. cutor said h e h a d no money, when Dempsey seized him by the throat, and held him very tightly. Prosecutor said, " Don't h urt me, and I will give you what money I hare." He then t oo k out hie purse, when Dempsey snatched it from him, and told him he must have more; and afterwards the prosecutor took out his snuff box containing 19 sove reigns, and delivered it up. They afterwards took his watch, spectacles, and other property, after which Dempsey wrote a paper, which he asked the prosecutor to sign, but he could not, he was so nervous. Ultimately he directed an envelope addressed to his employer at Vauxhall, enclosing a paper asking him to pay the bearers £2O. Dempsey and Beehow then lett, and left the prosecutor in the room with the two women, and they kept him there until the men re turned about an hour after. They had been to the publican, but he had repudiAtcd the whole concern, and refused to pay the £2O. wphriocche created (i The prosecuto r was then called, and gave his evidence in a very sim p l e manner, seeming to think that it was to his credit that h e h ad allowed himself to be gulled. In his own words, he k new h e had submitted like a lamb throughout the counsel, whole the prosecute • clonnecirodesrs;bexleaamminuasteimonenbtyitnhtehdeiffceoruernt t: r admitted that du r i ng th e t i me t h a t h e wa s left alon e w i t h the `:.omen ho h a d no t as k e d to b e a ll owe d to go away. A pub After getting o u t o f th e h ouse h e wen t i n to a N lichour ,e with Dempsey and had something to drink. ev er called out, as he was irightened, nor told any one in thr • ' Molichouse. Was at the house five hours altogether. - 15 1,,de the prisoners good night when he left them. Several witnesses were then examined, after which the court was addressed by the different counsel for the defence. The jury found the whole of the prisoners guility. An officer proved that both Benchow and Broughton had been previously convicted, Dempsey had also had 6 months' imprisonment for assaulting the prisoner with whom he was living at the present time. They were sentenced, Demprey and Beeclio w to 10 years' penal servitude, Broughton to 7 years' penal servitude, and Seymour to 18 months' imprisonment. COUNTRY MARKETS. MANCHESTER—THunsDAY. Only a moderate attendance at our market to-day, and a linaitLd business passing iu all articles. Prices may be quoted at the currency of this day se'nnight. A few par' eels of new wheat were disposed of at about 44s per 4801 b for red, and 46s for white, BURTON. ON-TRENT—THURSDAY. A fair show ut wheat at our market to-day, and we quote last week's prices. Other articles at fully late rates. Old white wheat..42s to 46s I yid red wheat, 375 to 408 New do. . 45s to 51s New do. 4 os t o 4611 I Matting barley....32s to 35s Oats. 219 to 289 Grinding d0.....27s to 30s I Beans 34s to 423 BIRMINGHAM—THURSDAY. There was a very short supply of English wheat at mar ket to-day, and the last week's prices were abou t realised• In foreign soils a reduction took place. Barley unaltered. Oats barely kept their value. Bans is dearer. Peas dull. —English wheat was sold at 44s to 50 s for wh ite, t , to 46s per 36 atone for red. Barley, new m alting, 30s o 38s per qr ; grinding, 25s to 28s. Oats, old, 24 s to 30s per 30 stone ; Irish, 20s to 245. Beans, 42s to 44s per qr. Peas, 37s to 40s per 36 stone. and 40s EDINBURGH GRAIN—WEDNESDA Y. Today there was a large supply of country w heat. Sales quiet, and in most instances 6d to is easier. o o n n tthhee top p p i l s s o O d d u d p o w . n.. average Oa 4d dow n . . a verage Os 10d up. B W a h r l e e a y t Oats on tho top Ze 6d down ...average Os 2d down. Beans on the top Os 6d down. ...... average Os 'd up. Average Prices. 218 2d Wheat.. Barley 3 ls td I Beans Total Supply and Sales. Wheat ...13b6 qr 5........ Sold 964 qrs Oats ........ 3.:7 qrs Sold 283 q rs Oats ey ........ 1919 qrs Sold 784 qrs 8ean5........ 136 qrs Sold 99 yrs Town• made flour sells as follows :—White, superfine, 36s ; superfine, 34s ; fine, 325. 38s; extra GLASGOW—WEDNESDA Y. There were few purchasers to - day at our m ar Ci lketti, en prices for both wheat and flour were nominally Ulaligea Oats and oatmeal easier. Inoian corn unchanged. Foreign Mail Packet List. MAILS DUE. -kustralia and Mauritius, via Southampton Seta. 18 Sept. 1 .2 * v.t‘ M a rseilles Jrazil and Cape Verds, by British p acket. Set. 4. P ;Jape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena.. Aug. 2 9, t %lama, Penang, and Singapore, via Southampton. Aug. 18 via Marseilles ...Aug. 27., Falkland Islands OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO • . • Gibraltar, via Southampton OO Aug. 18 , india (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton Aug. 1 8 via Marseilles Aug, 27 India (Bombay), via Southampton Aug. 20 via Marseilles A u g. 20. Portugal.... 0000 la /Bata, .kigypt, and Aden, via Southamp ton Aug. 18 via Marseilles Aug• Aug• ' Newfoundland Oporto and Vigo U. 6. and British N. America , by B ri t. p a cket.... Aug ' by U.S. packet...• 26, by Canadian packet. Aug• All parts of West Indies, including Chili, Peru, 1 Ati g. 29. cHlifornia. and firitinh Columbia.. _.-----__"2. LEI .—Ott the 17th 0. Buckley, sq.,E B in ir st. t . h a s t . Worthing th e wife of R. ByeK - , A .nark, of 19, Cleveland-square, IlY' e r the wife of Melville A. Walker, B 8 (1.1 eta daughter. WALKER.—On the 16th inst., at Wetheral, Cumberland, of a daughter. WEBSTER.•-0n the 14th inst., at Eaton Bishop, the wife of captain E. B. Webster, of a eon. 78th Highlanders, Marriage CociciNG—Moss.—On the 17th inst., at Saint Mary's, Chelmsford, Mr. He nr y W. Cocking, of 40 and 41, UPPet Thames-street. and 31, C a mden-square, London, to Anna Tormenter, eldest daughter of Mr. James Moss, Chelms ford. HARRIS—GA.MBELL.—On the 17th inst., at HaltonChurch, C h - r l es R. H 4r iis, third son of John Harris, Esq., Ist° of Cotton's Wharf, Londofl, to Sophia, second dau,:;hter of Peter Gambell, Esq., Halton, Bucks. Deaths. CROZIER.—Ov the 17th inst., at Clermont House, Becken barn. Kent Wm. Crozier, Eeq. D AR ELL.—On the 17th inst., at Richmond-hill, Surrey't ot last' surviving daughter of the lat , . and aant the present Sir Lionel Darell, Bart., aged 91. DENLE.—On the 16th inst., at 1, Upper Harl e y - Miss Louis. Deale. JENNINGS.—On the 17th inst., at The Precincts, Canter• buq , James Jennings, Esq., of The Elms, Old Windsor, Bergs, aged 63. SOMERSET.—On the 15th inst. , at 58, Rutland . g gte, losley Henry Somerset, fourth so n of Lord and LadY Raglan, aged tour months. THomsoN.—On the 17th inst., at his brother's residence, Society, a ged e H d o s u 3 s . e, Richmond, Robert Dundas Thow s°li f M.D., F R.s., President of the British Meteorological London: Prinz , zd and rrb:lshed Dy WILLIA M ANDE TS. of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at rillE Sus ()Mee Vo 1/2. Strand, .fl th. PICOII.ICt of the latoy,_fla the C‘UntY 4idtkiCeeX,7"-Friday, AttlgUtit 19, 1661.